Rug binding apparatus and method



April 3, 1951 T. HARTWELL 2,547,821

RUG BINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed Feb. 25, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet l R. THOMAS M- HARTWELL BY mfizw HIS ATTORNEKS April 3, 1951 T. M. HARTWELL 2,547,821

RUG BINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed Feb. '25. 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. THOMAS M. HARTWELL ,fi/zme/fiw HIS ATTORNEYS April 3, 1951 1-. M. HARTWELL RUG BINDING APPARATUS AND us ruon 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 25} 1950 IN V EN TOR.

THOMAS M. HARTWEI. L

HIS ATTORNEYS April 1951 T. M.HARTWELL 2,547,822

RUG BINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed Feb. 25, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet;

INVENTOR. THOMAS "M. HARTWELL M vfi/wa iv H/S ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RUG BINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD Thomas M. Hartwell, El Cerrito, Calif. Application February 25, 1950, Serial No. 146,245

8 Claims.

My invention relates to the art of rug binding, and 'more'particularly to a means and method for binding the raw edges of a rug.

' Inthebinding of rugs it has been th practice to eitherrun the edge through a stationary machine, which means moving the rug itself, or placing the rug on a specially designed table, pattern side down, and running a machine along the edge of the rug, on tracks accurately disposed with respect to the edge of such table. In either case, it becomes apparent that such procedure and required equipment call for a permanent installation of the equipment and consequently do not lend themselves for home use. Therefore, rugs in a home, which require binding, must be removed to the establishment where the facilities are available for such work.

Aside from the inconvenience of first removing all furniture and the like from such rug to permit of its removal, the necessary absence of the rug from the home until the'work can be done on it, leaves the home in an upset condition.

According to the present invention, it isno longer necessary to remove the "rug from the home, nor is it even necessary to disturb the rug from its position on the floor. A conventional machine of the bench type is converted into a portable unit by providing a wheeled carriage for such machine and driving the same from the same motor which operates the machine. No tracks are required, so therefore any conventional type wheels may be employed, though I prefer wheels with semi-pneumatic tires.

In utilizing the portable unit for its intended purpose, the unit is placed at one end of the rug in spaced relationship to the edge to be bound, by a distance sufiicient to permit looping the side of the rug to bring said edge into sewing position on the machine. By thusly turning over the edge to be bound, the edge will be fed into the machine with pattern side down and will, therefore, be made to conform to the general practice. With the unit thus positioned to travel a path across the rug substantially parallelto the edge to be bound, it then becomes a simple matter to let the unit travel such course while the operator guides the edge into the machine. For details of my invention, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention, adapted to the mounting of a selvaging machine and illustrating its manner of use;

'Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in section, taken in the plane 3+3 of Figure 1;

in the modified embodiment of Figure 5.

In general, the invention comprises a special carrier so designed as to accommodate a conventional type rug binding machine.

Sewing machines applicable to the present in vention may be of any conventional type designed for the application of a binding strip to the raw edge of a rug, and, as such, may involve an arbor l mounted on a base 3, the arbor carrying a drive shaft 5 protruding from the rear end thereof on which is mounted a .groove pulley I driven from a suitable drive motor 9.

At its free end, the arbor carries a reciprocat ing sewing needle I l for cooperation with a work hold-down guide l3 and the shutt e mechanism (not shown) in the base for the stitching of material to be sewed.

In the vicinity of the needle, the arbor also supports means for intermittently feeding material to the needle in proper timed relationship for stitching, such feeding means, in brief, ineluding a plurality of saw tooth wheels l5 for engagement with the work and driven intermittently by a pawl and ratchet mechanism ll operated from the drive shaft of the machine.

To render the aforemen.-ioned machine portable and mobile, and to otherwise adapt it for its intended purpose, I provide a carrier in the form of an open box type frame is having depending legs 23 in which are journaled a front shaft 25 and a rear shaft 26 on which to mount carrier wheels 2?, one adjacent each leg.

The sewing head is mounted with its base 3 spanning the upper side of the, carrier frame, and is retained thereon by separable hinges 28 along one side, preferably in the form of tongue and slot connections, which readily permit assembly or removal of the sewing machine from the carrier frame.

A bracket 29 afiixed to the rear of the frame serves as a mount for a spool of thread it, while the tape 3| utilized in binding the rug, may be fed from a reel or spool 52 carried on a bracket arm 33 within the frame and below the stitching mechanism. A pair of parallel cross-members 34 supported transversely of the frame below the upper side, serves as a support for hearing means 35 in which is journaled a shaft 35 carrying pulleys 31 and 39, one at each end.

The drive connection from the motor 9 to the pulley I of the sewing head includes a belt 6i from the motor to the shaft pulley 31, and a belt 43 from the other shaft pulley 39 to the pulley itself.

In effecting a drive connection to the carrier, I mount on the sewing head drive shaft adjacent the pulley I, a drive sprocket 45. This is drive connected to a driven sprocket ll on the front axle of the carrier whereby the forward travel of the carrier is directly tied in with the operation of the sewing head, and when once fixed, will remain correlated thereto. Thereafter, regardless of the speed at which the sewing head is operated, the transitory movement of the carrier will vary accordingly and without placing any undue strains or stresses on the sewing needle.

In fixing the relative carrier speed, I find it necessary to gear down the rotationa1 speed of the sprocket and, accordingly, introduce into the drive connection to the wheel axle, a gear reduction assembly 49 which I mount on the parallel cross-members. This gear reduction assembly has an input shaft 5! on which is mounted a sprocket 53 for connection to the sewing head sprocket G5 by a drive chain 55, and an output shaft 51' carrying a sprocket 58 for connecdon to the carrier drive sprocket 41 by a chain 6i.

In utilizing the above described apparatus in the binding of a rug 63, the apparatus is placed at one end of the rug and spaced from the edge to be bound, by a distance sufficient to permit :1

this side of the rug to be turned over to form a loop 65, so as to bring the desired edge into sewing position on the machine. With the free end of the binding tape and the desired edge of the rug properly correlated beneath the needle, the machine is started and caused to follow a path substantially parallel to the edge to be bound. The edge along with the binding tape may be readily guided toward the needle as the apparatus moves along its predetermined path.

The type of machine illustrated and described in connection with the embodiment of my invention as illustrated in Figures 1 through 4 inclusive, is known as a selvaging machine and such machine performs the first operation in the process of applying a binding strip to the raw edge of a rug. Such step, known as the selvaging operation, involves the sewing of one edge of the binding strip to the edge of the rug.

Following this operation, the binding strip is turned up over' the edge of the rug and is stitched to the back surface of the rug by a back-strapping or binding machine. Such machine'is of shorter length than the selvaging machine and, inorder to accommodate such machine to the aforementioned carrier, I have modified the carrier in accordance with the embodiment illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and '7.

In this embodiment, the machine is hingedly mounted on the carrier in a manner similar to that of the aforementioned selvaging machine and with its sewing end in approximately the same position as the corresponding end of the selvaging machine, the arbor of this machine, however, being of shorter length than the other.

A pulley 6! mounted on that end of the shaft 36 opposite the end on which the pulley 39 is mounted is coupled by a belt 69 to the pulle H of the binding machine, and power is ap -lied to the shaft 36 through a flexible coupling 13 from the drive motor 9 which in this instance is mounted on a platform 15 disposed within the carrier frame.

A drive connection from the pulley or drive shaft ll of the machine to the front axle 25 of the carrier, includes a chain 19 coupling a sprocket 8! on such drive shaft to a sprocket 83 mounted on the other end of the shaft 5| of the speed reduction gear assembly. From the reduction gear assembly to the front axle of the carrier, the drive corresponds to that of the previously described embodiment of my invention. To assure forward motion of the carrier when operating the binding machine, it was found necessary to provide a reversing twist in the belt 69 and chain l9 inasmuch as the binding machine shaft 'H has a direction of rotation opposite that of the selvaging machine previously considered.

With the carrier thus modified to selectively accommodate either the selvaging machine or the binding machine, I have found it desirable'to mount the tape on the hinged arm 85 of a bracket 87 affixed to the front member of the carrier frame.

To distinguish in part from prior art equipment of the type where the sewing head is part of a permanent assembly mounted for movement on tracks, the wheels of my carrier will in certain of the claims be designated as trackless type Wheels.

It will be apparent from the above description of my invention that the same provides portable means capable of fulfilling the objects of my invention, in that the same permits of the application of binding strips to the raw edge of a rug in a very simple and efiicient manner and without the necessity of removing such rug from its permanent location in the home.

Accordingly, while I have disclosed my invention in considerable detail, it is subiect to alteration and modification without departing fromthe underlying principles involved, and I accordingly do not desire to be limited in my protection to such details as I have illustrated and described, except as maybe necessitated by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for use with conventional type sewing machines having a, drive shaft and ul ey thereon, comprising a frame having means for accommodating and holding such conventional type sewing machine, said frame including an axle, wheels mounted on said axle for supporting said frame, a motor carried by said frame and'a pulley in drive connection with said motor, means including said pulley for effecting a drive connection to the pulley of such machine, and means for effecting a drive connection from said motor to said wheels, said means including a speedreduction gear assembly in drive connection with said motor, and a drive connection from said speed-reduction gear assembly to said axle.

2. Apparatus for use with conventional type sewing machines having a drive shaft and pulley thereon, comprising a box-type frame having means for selectively accommodating and holding one of a plurality of different conventional type sewing machines, said frame including an axle, Wheels mounted on said axle for supporting said frame, a motor carried by said frame, means for effecting a drive connection from said motor to the pulley of such machine, and means for effecting a drive connection from said motor to said wheels, said means including a speed-reduction gear assembly having an exposed input sprocket in drive connection with said motor and an exposed output sprocket, and a chain drive from said exposed output sprocket to said axle.

3. Apparatus for use with conventional type sewing machines having a drive shaft and pulley thereon, comprising a frame having means for removably accommodating and holding such conventional type sewing machine, said frame including an axle, wheels mounted on said axle for supporting said frame, a motor carried by said frame, means for effecting a drive connection to the pulley of such machine, and means for effecting a drive connection from the drive shaft of such machine to said wheels, said means including a speed-reduction gear assembly having an exposed input sprocket for connection to said drive shaft and an exposed output sprocket, and a chain drive from said exposed output sprocket to said axle.

4. Apparatus for use with conventional type sewing machines having a drive shaft and pulley thereon, comprising a, frame having means for selectively accommodating and holding one of a plurality of diiferent conventional type sewing machines, said frame including a front and rear axle, trackless type wheels mounted on said axles for supporting said frame, a motor carried by said frame, means for effecting a drive connection to the pulley of such machine, and means for effecting a drive connection from the drive shaft of such machine to at least one of said axles.

5. Apparatus for use with conventional type sewing machines having a drive shaft and pulley thereon, comprising a box-type frame having means for selectively accommodating and holding one of a plurality of different conventional type sewing machines, said frame including a front and rear axle, trackless type wheels mounted on said axles for supporting said frame, a motor carried by said frame, means for effecting a drive connection from said motor to the pulley of such machine, and means for effecting a drive connection from the drive shaft of such machine to certain of said wheels, said means including a speed-reduction gear assembly having an exposed input sprocket for connection to said drive shaft and an exposed output sprocket, and a chain drive from said exposed output sprocket to at least one of said axles.

6. The method of binding an edge of a rug lying on a surface with its pattern side up, comprising placing a rug binding machine adjacent one end of said rug and spaced from said edge a distance sufiicient to permit forming a loop to' bring said edge into sewing position on said machine, forming such loop, and operating the sewing mechanism of said machine while simultaneously moving said machine along said rug in a path substantially parallel to the normal position of the edge to be bound.

7. The method of binding an edge of a rug lying on a surface with its pattern side up, comprising placing a rug binding machine adjacent one end of said ru and spaced from said edge a distance sufficient to permit forming a loop to bring said edge into sewing position on said machine, forming such loop, and operating the sewing mechanism of said machine while simultaneously moving said machine along said rug at a rate commensurate with the operation of such sewing mechanism.

8. The method of binding an edge of a rug lying on a surface with its pattern side up, comprising placing a rug binding machine adjacent one end of said rug and spaced from said edge a distance sufficient to permit forming a loop to bring said edge into sewing position on said machine, forming such loop, and operating the sewing mechanism of said machine while simultaneously moving said machine along said rug in a path substantially parallel to the normal position of the edge to be bound and at a rate commensurate with the operation of such sewing mechanism.

THOMAS M. HARTWELL.

No references cited. 

